The Suffering of Jesus
As Christians at Easter we rejoice in the fact of a risen Lord.

We easily do that and it makes us feel good. But do we realize the true price paid in understandable human terms to get to that resurrection?
I sit here on Good Friday with a little discomfort due to an illness I have and the therapy I am receiving.

I cannot go out much or too far.

That’s good because it gives me time to deeply contemplate the sufferings of Jesus prior to his death, which on a scale of 1 to 10, mine is a 0.002 and his was 10 plus.

Because of His extreme suffering His death would have seemed like a welcome event for Him.

Based on some knowledge I have of His sufferings a little research adds to the knowledge base but most importantly helps connect me with his sufferings.

When I realize the agony of His sufferings and understand that he endured for me the unfathomable pain it is as the song How Great Thou Art puts it “I scarcely can take it in that on that cross He bled and died for me”.

My soul groans with the agony of it. It brings to reality the love He has and God has for me and you.

Contemplate on this as you read the following.

We know Jesus while God in Spirit was every bit as human as you and I.

So picture yourself or a loved one going through what He went through in the following narrative taken from expert medical sources.
Before the cross Jesus began a process of psychological suffering. It started with betrayal by one of His disciples who had been with Him for His three years of ministry of teaching and healings. From there he was abandoned by more of his friends as went to pray in Gethsemane and assure His father that the father’s will would be done.

He agonized over what was before Him. This agony was in the form of extreme stress because He knew His death and ultimate resurrection was to be preceded by the most awful and cruelty man could inflict upon another. Imagine yourself in the same situation.
Psychological stress is known medically to lead to a condition called hematidrosis, a condition where severe stress causes chemicals to be released that can break down the capillaries in the sweat glands whereby blood is secreted through the sweat glands. The Bible reports He sweated blood. It is also reported that hematidrosis also leads to a heightened skin sensitivity. This is important as we consider later sufferings.
Jesus was brought before religious and ultimately Roman authorities in the middle of the night who had but one agenda to see him tried and condemned to death. It was not a fair trial and not done according to Jewish law and conducted by His own people he came to save.

The experience was a humiliating to Him and in spite of an appeal to the ultimate Roman authority who found no fault with him he was sentenced to be crucified as a politically expedient measure.
Roman floggings were extremely brutal and done by trained executioners whose sole purpose was to create so much pre cross trauma on the one to be crucified that crucifixion would lead to a more rapid death, which it did. Floggings were usually thirty nine lashes (Jewish law allowed 40) with a flagrum, a cat of nine tails, imbedded with metal balls and sharp bone were considered standard and would rip and tear tissue to the point where often the internal organs would be exposed. The whippings (or rippings) would have covered to neck, shoulders, back, buttocks and legs. The strands of the flagrum would wrap around the back and legs and when pulled back suddenly would rip and tear tissue deeply. Veins and muscle would be torn into bloody strands and the pain unimaginable for us.

Once it was determined that the sufferer was near death the beatings would be halted. Eusebius, a third century historian described flogging as “The sufferers veins were laid bare, and the very muscles, sinews, and bowels of the victim were open to exposure.” The term excruciating comes from this experience. Excuciating means “out of the cross”. Many did not survive the beating.
After the flogging and being at a point just before death Jesus must now carry His own cross to Golgatha where He will be crucified. Jesus carried the cross member that makes the cross. This wooden member weighed from 75 to 125 pounds and would be difficult for a healthy man to carry. But Jesus had been flogged to near death and yet he carried this cross through the streets of Jerusalem while being mocked and spit on by a crowd. (I have to digress here and say Jesus had to have been physically fit man before He began his ordeal where He was able to lift that cross and begin the walk. Anyone who says being like Jesus is not manly doesn’t know what they are talking about.) He stumbles and falls and a man from Cyrene (Libya) takes the cross the remaining distance to Golgotha where Jesus is crucified.
Already, near death and in excruciating pain Jesus is thrown upon the rough wooden cross where the open wounds in his back are against the rough wood. Then 5 to 7 inch spikes are nailed through His wrists and feet and the cross is pulled up and set down into a hole as Jesus’s whole weight is now supported only by the nailed feet and hands.

Excruciating pain!
There he hangs and begins a slow death by asphyxiation as the chest and diaphragm is in an inhaled position. To get air and to exhale he must push up with His nailed feet against excruciating pain. He must do this again and again each time scraping his raw back against the rough wood. During this process the ultimate abandonment occurs when Jesus asks God “Why have you forsaken me?” Jesus has been totally laid out for our sins. He has paid it all.
Finally exhaustion gives way to not being able to push up and breath and respiratory acidosis takes over. Respiratory acidosis occurs when the carbon dioxide in the blood turns to carbonic acid causing the blood to become more acidic. This leads to an irregular heart rate and ultimate cardiac arrest. Concurrently with the acidosis Jesus and due to blood and fluid loss Jesus would be experiencing hypo-polemic shock and a rapid heart rate contributing to the heart failure. The result is a collection of fluid in the membrane around the heart and around the lungs called pericardial and pleural effusion respectively. When the Roman soldier thrust the spear into Jesus’s side to see if he was dead the spear passed through the lungs and maybe the heart to get a clear liquid. This was followed by blood as described by the apostle John in his gospel. This was a sign of death. There was no need to break His legs to speed up the process.
Jesus was dead. He has endured hours of suffering and excruciating pain. It was 3:00 PM on a Friday. It is now 3:00 Pm on this Friday, the 18th of April 2014 and I will stop only to say.
We take the death and resurrection of Jesus for granted perhaps.

We see people die during our lives and we can grasp it. We can understand somewhat that to lay down your life for friend as an example of love.

But it seems another level of love to knowingly suffer, to suffer excruciatingly, for another and then die.
I scarcely can take it in that on that cross He bled and suffered and died for me so that on believing on Him I too can be resurrected into eternal life.

A friend of mine brought an enormous sack of organic, non-gmo potatoes to share with our church family at Hope Bible Fellowship.

Charise encourages me every day through her posts to add healthy rich herbs and spices with natural antibiotics to give my system a boost.

We have a health-conscious congregation and it was a great blessing to everyone.

As you can see from my recipes, I’m not as careful as most cooks in the church.

I love to use butter, and sour cream and cheese.
I decided to make a potato dish every day.

It was fun to get creative, challenge myself in my cooking (which can get lazy) as I make my favorites over and over.
Monday – Cubed and sautéed potatoes with pumpkin to serve with the morning eggs with thyme.
Tuesday – Mashed potatoes with roasted garlic, thyme, and sour cream and butter.
Wednesday – Scalloped potatoes with garlic, chili powder…extra cheesy!
Thursday – Baked potatoes with basil and garlic.
Friday – Boiled potatoes served with peas, fresh mint and pats of butter.
Saturday – Baked steak fries in the oven topped with rosemary.

Weighed myself Sunday morning and I had magically lost 3 pounds eating potatoes!

Nancy Dytrich is the Director of Women’s Ministries at Hope. She is a woman of God that is so fired up about her faith it fires up everyone in her presence. We traveled to the retreat titled “Journey into Rest” and sat as our speaker, Kathy White led a very special weekend deepening our intimacy not just in our friendship but a deepening delight in the Lord. We arrived a day early for a leadership retreat that was expectantly canceled and enjoyed the entire ranch to ourselves. She hiked and read and I slept. We were canoeing one afternoon on a magnificent fall afternoon, birds chirping water lapping peacefully on the aluminum sides and all we could hear is a gal chatting on her blue tooth a million miles a minute alone in her canoe at a decibel level which included all in the river in her conversation. We will never forget the gal we paddled by in the other canoe. The retreat title “Journey into Rest” I took literally and slept my way through the weekend and left with a strong visual picture of being in the canoe with my girlfriend Nancy experiencing God’s Glory in His Creation and being transformed in the clear cool autumn air. Troubled deeply by seeing someone miss it, I changed after that weekend and delay speaking or even checking messages on my cell anytime I’m in anyone’s presence even my family. I don’t know the situation the young woman was in, perhaps checking in with her work.

1 cake mix, any flavor (probably best if it’s not “extra moist” variety

1 can frosting, any coordinating flavor lollipop or cookie sticks

White or chocolate candy coating or “almond bark”

Styrofoam blocks

Decorations and edible ink

Bake cake according to directions. Let cool entirely. (Make up to two days in advance as long as you cover it with aluminum foil.) When completely cool, break into pieces in a large bowl until cake is very crumbly. Mix in can of frosting, either by hand or with stand up mixer. If cake is very moist, may not need entire can of frosting. Using your hands or a melon baller, make small evenly sized balls( at Easter time, slightly egg-shaped). size depends on size of sticks you will be using. For thin paper lollipop sticks, create balls the diameter of a quarter. For cookie sticks of plastic and are thicker, the balls formed larger. Place balls on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper and refrigerate for at least an hour. Prepare candy coating, heat pieces in a small dish or ceramic dipping pot in the microwave at fifty percent heat, stirring every thirty seconds until completely melted. A double boiler will also work. Texture is slightly thinner than yogurt or pudding. May add just a “hint” of shortening if needed for thinning, but do not overdo. Once cake balls cool , and candy coating melts, dip 1/2 of stick in the coating and push about halfway into the ball. This helps the ball stay on the stick. Return to a cookie sheet and refrigerate for at least thirty minutes. When well set, hold the stick and swirl the cake ball in the coating, covering the entire surface (may take a little “practice” to get the technique down). If coatings too thin, try heating a little longer. To let cake pops dry upright, push the stick of the pop into a Styrofoam block. Color white candy coating (tint yellow for Easter chicks and pull up a little point at the top for the head; swirl colors into white for Easter eggs). Be creative. Decorate with sprinkles, sugar crystals, teeny-tiny colored chocolate chips, coconut, etc. dipping/ lightly rolling still-wet pops. Use pieces of candy for feet, eyes, beaks, etc. Make parts like ears with melted coating formed into shapes on wax paper and then cooled before attaching with another dab of coating. Draw on dried coating with edible ink to make faces and swirls.

Today is my special day and I’m sensing the Lord’s blessing upon me (Ps. 129:8) through my beloved of almost 24 years creating a delicious baklava.

A morning of worship filling me with joy and happiness and a restful afternoon consisted of snoozing during The Masters which our favorite golfer Phil Mickelson just became once again the Champion, and waking up to the smell of roasting walnuts, butter, sugar, orange and fillo dough.

Todd’s Baklava:

1 package of phyllo or (fillo is the spelling on the package we bought) (12-15 sheets of dough). We used Organic Whole Wheat Fillo dough ( it’s all the store had)

1 16 oz. bag of whole walnuts. crush to size in a food processor, or by any means necessary. Buy a pre-crushed bag if necessary. Walnuts, almonds, pistachios will do. Any combination.

cinnamon or similar spice

1-2 cups brown sugar. Mix with crushed walnuts.

3 sticks of sweetened, unsalted butter. Melt butter, separate out and discard the milk fat. Buy ghee as an alternative

One of the following sweeteners: Honey, agave syrup, lemon or an orange zest infused simple sugar syrup. In Tucson we used wildflower honey, mesquite honey, and agave syrup for different flavors. Today I made a simple syrup with the orange zest of one orange infused into the syrup: about 2 cups sugar and 2 cups water melted together. Syrup will thick enough to stick to the back of a spoon.

Prep:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine walnuts, cinnamon, and brown sugar into a bowl. Separate the butter and put in a different bowl. Spray a large baking pan with non-stick spray, or rub the surface with butter.

After preparing pan, line the pan with the first sheet of fillo dough. Brush generously with butter. Add another layer of dough, brush with butter.

Sprinkle the nut mixture onto the dough, drizzle syrup.

Repeat the process through 12-15 layers of fill dough.

Before baking, cut the top layers of dough on angles, about 2″ triangles each. Drizzle more syrup.

Bake baklava about 30 minutes at 350 degrees, then adjust temp to 475 to brown for about 10-15 minutes to brown the dough (keep an eye on it during this phase so it doesn’t burn). If overly dry, drizzle more syrup, or in a pinch, sprinkle fresh squeezed orange or lemon juice.

Yesterday was the last day of our Spring study Becoming A Woman Of Simplicity by Cynthia Heald. We all prepared simple dishes to share in our brunch which followed. My friend Irene Martinez prepared a delicious quick Quiche.
The batter consists of 2 c of cheese, any kind you like. Ours was swiss.
2 eggs, 1/2 c of half and half cream, 1/2 c of mayo, 2 tbsp. flour, salt and pepper to taste. Combine and whisk.
Bake at 350 degrees for 22 minutes in a muffin pan. Spray thoroughly with oil before filling.

Irene oversees infants and small children on Sunday mornings at Hope, a part of an amazing team of volunteers who lovingly care for the little ones. As an M.D., Irene is a wonderful blessing to all our parents, providing them an even greater sense of security while they worship the Lord during our service at Hope Bible Fellowship.

It all began one Sunday evening when Andre walked into Hope with the biggest, most delicious piece of peanut butter pie I had ever tasted. He walked into the kitchen to make fresh brewed coffee to accompany his pie, and the smell of the pie and the coffee permeated the air and stimulated my culinary senses. “Trish you look like you’d like a bite of my pie.” He turned away, and I swooped in for a slice of pie so fast he never even saw me. News of my enjoyment reached the master chef at home, so the next Sunday Todd arrived home after youth group with a peanut butter cookie pie just for our family made with love by Andre’s lovely wife Adelene. We thoroughly enjoyed the pie, and not since Village Inn many years before had we enjoyed such a delicious peanut butter pie. You may have your own favorite pie stopover you would have compared it with.

Adelene was born in LA and Andre in Venice, Italy but grew up in San Francisco. How they met I’m not quite sure, but the Ceshin’s, married forty-two years, have the great gift and capacity to love God and to love others unconditionally, with grace and mercy. With this gift they are blessing others while serving with the children’s ministry and other oversight care areas of Hope. Andre plants beautiful flowers and greenery all around the church.

My most common cooking mistake has been forgetting the sugar and presenting a dish to find out it was tasteless. A couple years ago I made a birthday cake for my friend Mary Wambach. The first child to take a full bite ran outside into my back yard and spit loudly into the bushes. That’s how I learned of my error. Sometimes when we speak to others we fail to properly season our words, and despite the depth of our love and concern, our words are received like that piece of cake, only we don’t have the benefit of the feedback and go on making the same mistakes over and over again. Sugar is as Todd pointed out in his message Sunday as important to pie as opening your bible and pursuing righteousness through a relationship with Christ.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be filled. Matthew 5:6 HCSB

Nothing will fill you or sate you like the Word. Todd explained, righteousness is pursuing a life in conformity to God’s will. That is in every single area of our life. Ann Kroeker and I were discussing this today and she pointed out like the sugarless pie, nothing will be joy-filled about you that would enable others to see the love of Christ in you.

Filling ~ Mix 1/2 c of peanut butter and 1 pkg. of cream cheese and 2 cups of whipped cream sweetened with at least a 1/4 c of sugar of more to taste.

Let chill a couple hours and drizzle caramel sauce all over the pie.

Chill another hour and coat the top of the pie with crushed almond kisses.

The title came from a joke between Adelene and I after Todd used his illustration of eating two pieces of sugar-free pie and still having the sense he needed another because the lack of sugar took away any satisfaction the senses would normally enjoy. The pie lacked taste, smelled different, visually it didn’t have luster to it.